Little White Lies

We tell them all the time. When we want to decline an invitation without hurting someone’s feelings, we tell a white lie. On the tennis court, we call a ball in when it is out—in our favor of course. In a financial crisis we stretch the truth and file for personal bankruptcy. Our children follow our example, telling white lies in their self-defense: “I didn’t forget to take out the trash. I was going to do it in a minute.”

In order to make them sound more like truths and less like lies, we label these everyday falsehoods “half-truths” or “white lies.” Like white magic or good witches, we hope that white lies will accomplish good. But lies are lies. If something is only half truth, then it is false.

Check your speech for white lies. You may be priding yourself on your honesty, while stretching the truth into what isn’t truth at all.

By submitting your email address, you understand that you will receive email communications from Bible Gateway, a division of The Zondervan Corporation, 3900 Sparks Drive SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 USA, including commercial communications and messages from partners of Bible Gateway. You may unsubscribe from Bible Gateway’s emails at any time. If you have any questions, please review our Privacy Policy or email us at privacy@biblegateway.com.